Iwritecode

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 23, 2018 -> 10:06 AM) Bright Trump CPAC idea of the day... Because all teachers love their students and all students love their teachers, they will be much more effective shooters than an SRO cowering outside with no connection to those students. (Obviously doesn’t know most public schools well.) Love will help handguns outduel automatic weapons. Problem solved. More handgun sales and trainings for the NRA. Honestly, the thought has crossed my mind about how a teacher would react if forced into the situation of having to actually shoot one of his/her students to stop a threat. I think many would struggle with knowing they took the life of one of their own students. Even if it did save the life of others.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 22, 2018 -> 09:42 AM) Obviously they think the "solution" is more guns. When that doesn't work, they will say they just need more. What's funny is we already have "more" guns. America has about 42% of the civilian-owned guns in the world. We have almost as many guns in this country alone as the rest of the world combined.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 22, 2018 -> 08:45 AM) President out praising the NRA this morning, showing exactly how serious he is about actually doing anything. As far as more armed guards, Stoneman Douglas had an armed guard. Pulse had an armed guard. Mandalay Bay has a whole armed security force, as did the concert across the street. Fort Hood is a god damned military base. When someone is willing to kill and be killed, a few armed guards aren't going to stop them. Columbine had an armed guard as well. The kids just timed it when he was off-campus for lunch. With any security system, the weakest link is usually the human element.

18-year-old with a stash of legally bought weapons and no history of mental illness arrested when caught with a gun and knife at school. It doesn't specifically say that he had plans on shooting anyone at his school, but it seems to imply it. This is the second story I've read in the last week or so about a kid getting caught before he could do any damage. It also sort of blows a hole in theory that if we enact more gun laws, then only the criminals will have guns and that it's a mental health issue.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 09:50 AM) Both of my kids were/are tall for their age and it pains me putting my 1.5 year old in a backwards seat when his knees are 3-4 inches from his chest. This is a weekly argument my wife and I have. "He's uncomfortable! Look at how he's sitting!" "I don't care, the recommendation is rear-facing until 24 months, so that's what we're going to do!" I think it depends more on height and weight than age. If your kid is tall enough or heavy enough to be front-facing at 1.5 years old, then switch it around.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 12:25 PM) Ugh. I hate that talking point, and I think the most offensive part of it is the idea that we can sort humanity into "good guys" and "bad guys." Everyone is technically a "good guy" with a gun until they do something that makes them a bad guy... This. 100X this. The kid in the Florida shooting was technically a legal gun owner. Dylan Roof purchased his guns "legally" only because they screwed up his background check. The guy that shot up the concert in Las Vegas was also a legal gun owner. This whole "criminals don't follow the laws anyway" argument is a red herring.

Cobra Kai

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 11:26 AM) Speaking of teachers with guns, this thread is a must read. The other problem with this "solution" is that it only looks at school shootings. How many mass shootings have we had that have taken place at somewhere other than a school? Movie theaters, concerts, colleges (not sure if they are counted in school shootings), shopping malls, businesses ect... Are we just supposed to have armed security and metal detectors at every single place where a lot of people gather at the same time just in case someone decides to run in and start shooting people?

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Feb 19, 2017 -> 09:14 PM) The girls literally swept the post-season. Highest score of all the teams in the regionals, highest score of all the teams in the sectionals and then yesterday they won state. linky Almost one year to the day, the girls repeated as state champions. http://www.wifr.com/content/sports/Harlem-...-474399693.html

We almost had another school shooting in Washington. to the lady that turned her grandson in.

A couple of slightly long, but still good articles explaining why this is only a problem in this country and what other countries are doing compared to us. America’s unique gun violence problem, explained in 17 maps and charts How gun control works in America, compared with 4 other rich countries TL/DR = We have more guns per captia than any other country and the least restrictive/effective gun laws.

This story sounds fishy to me. Dude drove 40 miles at 100 MPH with a "stuck" gas pedal. Apparently he was on the phone with a 9-1-1 operator for most of the time and it took the police deploying 3 spike strips to finally get him to stop. Why didn't he 1) simply push the brake pedal down to activate the fail-safe the BMW spokesperson said his car is equipped with, 2) put the car into neutral or 3) shut the engine off? Anyone of those options would have eventually stopped the vehicle. Link

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Jan 30, 2018 -> 02:27 PM) Just saw this today, take it for whatever it's worth to you: "WGN Radio will sign the team but Ed Farmer cannot be involved with the game broadcast and JR is balking but he also has no place to go. WMVP has no interest at all." It would be supremely ironic if WGN after having and promoting the Cubs all those years now becomes the White Sox station. So was just a false rumor or did they get something worked out?

live link

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 13, 2018 -> 08:55 AM) Oh wow! I wasn’t aware of the dog kennel option! Last time I heard of something like that I think was the Honda Element. I’ll say I am pretty pleased with my Q7, with the exception of the brakes. About a month ago I had to have my front pads and rotors replaced already after 20k miles. I had prepaid for this, so it didn’t cost me anything (then), but it pisses me off. Am I going to end up replacing the damn rotors every 20k miles? May as well add like another $5-6k to the true cost of owning the thing. Unless you have some really cheap rotors, they shouldn't need to be replaced nearly that often. I always do my own and I try to get the better/higher prices pads and rotors. They usually come with a warranty as well. One of my cars I replaced the pads 2 or 3 times and they were always covered under the warranty.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 8, 2018 -> 03:15 PM) I wasn't moving when it died. I parked and was listening to something on the radio and two minutes later it went out. I was embellishing a bit I guess. Went to Sams and they installed a new one for only $99. About a year ago I had the batteries in both of my vehicles die on the exact same day. Luckily I was at home when it happened, but I had to call someone for a ride to get new ones. Then we sold one of the cars to my oldest daughter and got another vehicle. The battery on that died last December. Then just a couple of weeks ago, one of the batteries that I had just replaced last year died. Luckily it was still under warranty so I got it replaced for free. So now we have 3 vehicles at our house all with fairly new batteries still under warranty.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 8, 2018 -> 12:26 PM) Battery dies LITERALLY as I was pulling into work. Getting a new one at lunch. Good times Your alternator should've kept you going. You typically don't realize you have a dead battery until the next time you try to start it.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 7, 2018 -> 10:01 PM) What bothers me the most on here is you guys act like I"m the only one expressing these opinions or seeing these news items and commenting on them. I'd venture to say 85 percent of people are talking about the things I'm talking about on here. You guys think nothing is a big deal living in your own world. Had you not started this thread, I'd bet that 85% of the people on this board would've never even heard about this story. I haven't run across a single news article, Facebook post or interacted with another person IRL that has brought this story up.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 7, 2018 -> 01:58 PM) Remember not everybody is capable of being on the team. I'm sure that makes several kids sad and unhappy and perhaps to the point of severe mental depression. How can we have sports in this scenario?? When I was a kid if you didn't make the team you better find another team to get on, try another sport or another club activity. Bulls***. Kids sports "back then" were pretty much the same as what they are now. Every kid that wanted to play, got to play. When I played softball, there was even a rule that said every single kid had to play at least 2 innings each game. This was 30 years ago. It's only once you start getting into HS sports that you start getting competitive and not everyone makes the team or gets to play. But then you are starting to stretch the definition of "kids".

These types of dances have been around for quite some time. I seem to remember more than a few tv shows and/or movies dealing with the problem of a student not having a mom or a dad to take to the dance. My 2 youngest are in HS now but they did have these when they were in grade school. I went to a few of them with my youngest. They also did something called "doughnuts with dad" and "muffins with mom" where the students could have their parents join them for a little bit before the school day started. I don't remember hearing any kind of outrage about this ever.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 6, 2018 -> 11:21 AM) A co-worker of mine just found out he won $1 million on some second chance lotto game. How long until he blows it all? After taxes he'll end up with maybe half that. I'd blow through most of it pretty quick too but my house would be paid off, my 5th wheel trailer would be paid off and my car would be paid off. It's not enough to retire on but my wife might be able to quit her job. Or at least drop to part-time.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Feb 5, 2018 -> 02:16 PM) The actor is 28 but that doesn't mean the character has to be. I know. It was just a rough estimate. According to this article, its about 10 years before ANH. So I was close.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 5, 2018 -> 01:44 PM) Looks good. Question though. How old where Han Solo and Calrissian in the original movies? Seems like this movie takes place like 2 years before episode IV. Well, Harrison was about 35 in the original movie and Billy Dee Williams is about 5 years older than Harrison. The new actor playing Solo is about 28 and Donald Glover is about 6 years older than him. So you could say it's set around 7 years before the first movie.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Feb 2, 2018 -> 05:48 PM) Last night, a guy (in his 20s) bowling against us threw 11 strikes in a row. they were like carbon copies of each other (except for 1 that had slightly different action). Going for the perfect game, he threw what looked like another perfect strike, but only knocked down 8 pins. Ended with a 298. Really disappointed for him, but it was so impressive to see in person. I had a 156 and felt like Earl Anthony. I watched a HS sophmore (I think he's 15 or 16) throw a 300 game about a month ago. He's the son of the coach of the girls team so his dad got to see him throw it. It's always so eerie when they get to that last strike because the entire house just goes silent. There is an interesting youtube series about E.A.R.L. the bowling robot and the quest to get him to bowl a 900 series. As of now, I don't think they've managed it quite yet. You'd think with it being a robot that can throw the exact same shot every single time it would be pretty easy. Just goes to show how much a little luck and making small adjustments factors in.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 29, 2018 -> 07:34 PM) Minimum wage was $1.60 in 1973. In 2018 equivalent, that would be $9.28 per hour. Using that 5.8 multiplier, another way of thinking of it is this...if a worker was making the princely sum of $4.03 per hour in 1973, it would be like earning $23.37/hour in today's dollars. Essentially, any family today earning $50,000 or less (per household, without kids) would be living on the equivalent of $4.03/hr in terms of 1973 buying power. That, right there, explains a lot of what has happened to the middle class from the 1970's through today. I've been having a conversation with someone on Facebook the past few days that has been trying to justify his position that $20/hr is poverty level.